The real start for our trip was Friday, June 2. Our welcome dinner and briefing were nice. Started to meet our fellow travelers and had a lecture from the National Geographic “host” traveling with us, David Harrison, a world famous linguist.
We were scheduled for the first bus on Friday morning, 7:45 AM. When we arrived to board we were told that the jet had some problems and to go back to our rooms to wait, coming back at 9. At 9 we were given the go ahead to board the buses for Boeing Airfield where our plane was waiting. Security was done on the tarmac with hand held scanners and visual checks of our hand luggage. Then we were allowed on board.
After take off we were served champagne and caviar. We had to have a technical stop in Anchorage for fuel and to pick up our regular crew. Because of the distance we had to fly this first day the crew could not work the necessary hours, so we had a crew for the first leg (4.5 hours of flight time).
Alaska from 35,000 feet
We were supposed to make a second stop in Sapporo Japan, but our pilots were able to get clearance to fly over Kamchatka Russia and so we flew directly to Osaka. That flight was 7.5 hours. We had lectures on both legs of the flights. Bob thinks they are trying to convert us to Buddhism.
After waiting over 40 minutes for our luggage we were finally on our way to Kyoto and the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
Our room here is amazing with everything being run from electronic control centers. The shades go up when you enter the room, the closet lights come on as you approach the closet, there are various “scenarios” for the lighting and the decor is simple but elegant.
After dinner we were in bed by 8:30 Kyoto time which was about 22 hours since we were up in the morning.
And, by the way it was Saturday night, June 3!!
Bette and Bob See the World 
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